1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording image information in an image file format on a recording medium wherein the image information is input from an imaging component or an external terminal. In particular, it relates to an image recording apparatus that automatically deletes image files on the recording medium at an appropriate time.
2. Description of Related Art
Image recording apparatus that record image information input from an imaging component in an image file format on a recording medium are known in the art. Electronic cameras and image editing machines are examples of such recording apparatus.
In such image recording apparatus, memory cards (e.g., flash memories), magnetooptical recording media, and the like, have been used as image recording media. Such recording media are reusable by deleting image files that are no longer being used. These conventional image recording apparatus provide a function for deleting image files by manual operation. For example, an apparatus for batch deleting image files on the recording medium by manual operation is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 6-90422.
Also, an apparatus is known for successively deleting image files on the recording medium by manual specification while being displayed on a monitor screen.
In such conventional examples, it is necessary for the user to choose a suitable time to execute the deletion operations. Therefore, the user must always be conscious-of the usage conditions of the recording media in order to determine an appropriate time for deletion.
Such determinations are often missed. Therefore, in an image recording apparatus such as an electronic camera, valuable shooting opportunities are frequently missed by the user not being aware of the reduction of available capacity of the recording medium. For example, if the available capacity is not sufficient to store an image, the user must delete an image prior to storing a new one. If the user does not realize that there is not sufficient capacity, the user may not be able to store a new image, which would then be lost. In addition, the user must select the image files, one by one, to be deleted using a complicated selection operation. Moreover, important image files are often deleted because the selected image files are deleted on the spot.